"The currents of rage, fear, fiery determination and finally triumph that crackle through David France’s inspiring documentary, “How to Survive a Plague,” lend this history of the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power a scorching electrical charge." - Stephen Holden

"...little credit had been given to the activists who worked tirelessly throughout the ’80s and early ’90s, in many cases laying down in the streets to try to bring attention and money to the disease. So [director David France] set out with a small film crew and began collecting video footage from the era. He also met with more than a dozen prominent activists and veterans of the movement who appear in the film, which charts the journey of the disease from the first days, when a rare skin cancer called Kaposi’s sarcoma began mysteriously appearing on the bodies of gay men all over New York, until the advent of antiretrovirals 15 years later." - Jacob Bernstein

"I sat down to watch "How to Survive a Plague," a new documentary about the history of the AIDS epidemic, expecting to cry, and cry I did...I expected to be angry. Here, too, I wasn't disappointed. What I didn't expect was how much hope I would feel. How much comfort. While the movie vividly chronicles the wages of bigotry and neglect, it even more vividly chronicles how much society can budge when the people exhorting it to are united and determined and smart and right. The fight in us eclipses the sloth and surrender, and the good really does outweigh the bad. That's a takeaway of 'How to Survive a Plague,' and that's a takeaway of the AIDS crisis as well." - Frank Bruni

"Words like 'important' and 'inspiring' tend too often to be meaninglessly attached to non-fiction filmmaking, but in the case of David France's compelling snapshot of a revolutionary period in AIDS treatment, they are amply justified... An epic celebration of heroism and tenacity, and less directly, a useful template for any fledgling activist movement, demonstrating the effectiveness of inside/outside strategy." - David Rooney

"Even if you lived through this era, went to protests, wept over the AIDS quilt and believed yourself aware, director David France’s assured, seamless directorial debut, rich with archival footage, will teach you something about courage, dedication and the power of well-directed anger...It's never too late to say, see this movie." - Mary Pols

"David France amassed an epic amount of material from the desperate days of AIDS activism. He sifted through 700 hours of footage, and he recorded nearly 100 hours of original interviews with prominent activists, many of whom wept as they told their stories of survival...Despite the overwhelming tragedy of the AIDS era — since recognition of the virus in the early 1980s, HIV has taken the lives of tens of millions — France...said he doesn’t feel as though he’s telling “an AIDS story. The story is about activism and how it can work, how soaringly successful it can be.” - James Sullivan

"As this stirring, scrupulous doc reveals, the members of ACT UP fused the fervor of revolutionaries, the tenacity of trial lawyers, and the rage of the dispossessed to change the very shape of the epidemic. In doing so, they found hope where there had been only death...Rating:A-" - Owen Gleiberman

"One of the ten best movies of 2012...If its essence could be bottled,David France’s fierce, heartbreaking documentary about the very early days of AIDS activism could serve as a tonic for demoralized political organizers, a bracing reminder that change is possible when a group of committed people come together to fight injustice, indifference, and prejudice...don’t miss this cathartic, inspiring film." - Dana Stevens

"What saved the day was the stubborn persistence of its members, together with the scientific breakthroughs that led to protease inhibitors and combination therapies. Those new tools restored many near-corpses to life and cut the number of AIDS-related deaths in New York by a staggering 50 percent...Occupy movements, take note." - Ella Taylor

"The 3rd best movie of 2012...A brilliant blueprint on how to spark a revolution. The activists who were highlighted in this film are American heroes to us all — gay, straight, black, white, male or female.” - Clay Cane

"The most satisfying cinematic moment I've experienced all year occurs during the last 15 minutes of David France's documentary How To Survive a Plague...What works like a movie twist feels like an epiphany in this chronicle of the first nine years of the AIDS advocacy group ACT UP. Just know that if you care about social justice and gay rights, you should see this film. And if you don't know much about ACT UP's history, you will be wowed." - Rich Juzwiak

"A 1992 protest that climaxed with a mass depositing of cremains onto the White House lawn gains incalculable emotional traction via multiple mini-cams capturing tears and goodbyes. 'I love you, Michael,' one man cries out as the ashes he bears go over the fence and the mounted police close in. What appeared, at least as it was presented by the national media, to be a reckless act of civil disobedience is now an urgent and painful group requiem captured on the fly." - Bruce Bennett

"The film spotlights scientist, researchers and a retired chemist, not all of them HIV-positive, who did invaluable work in calling attention to a treatment protocol and promising drugs worldwide. 3 1/2 Stars." - Roger Ebert

"Expertly compiled from hundreds of hours of archival footage...France's documentary captures the fury and unflagging commitment of ACT UP to target those in power who did nothing to stop the disease. Present-day interviews with members who in 1987 doubted they'd live to see their 30th birthday deepen the film's impact as an essential document of queer—and New York City—history." - Melissa Anderson

“Tells the story of these activists and the organisations they built... in compelling detail. Their fight was a Gandhian one—using the tactics of non-violent civil disobedience, the creativity of the gay community, and the effective but tough slog of grassroots participatory democracy.” - Chris Beyrer,

"The Q&As that followed have paralleled the power of the film. They brought together two distinct demographics: Those that were there, and those that weren't. People who saw their own stories (often literally) on the screen alongside people who (often for the first time) saw the history of a collective moment that in many cases made their lives possible today. And they are eager to find out what they can do to follow in the footsteps they saw on screen." - Peter Knegt

"An emotionally searing, awe-inspiring and ultimately empowering film that should be shown as Social Justice 101. France’s film is the definitive ACT UP New York documentation that audiences in our Occupied world need to see." - Kate Walsh

"A veteran journalist who's been reporting on AIDS since the epidemic's earliest days, debuting helmer France and his first-rate collaborators have assembled a package as engrossing in human terms as it is historically informative. Artful editing, original scoring and music supervision make especially valuable contributions." - Dennis Harvey

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